New research by personal finance comparison website finder.com shows that someone on the average salary would struggle to afford a 1-bedroom flat in 10 out of 56 major UK cities (18%).
The London rental market is the least affordable. The average yearly salary in London is £43,629, but you’d need a salary of £64,930 to comfortably rent a 1-bedroom flat and meet daily living costs.
Brighton is the second least affordable city, where the average salary of £34,860 falls short of the £41,010 needed to afford the average 1-bed flat at £1,300 plus living costs.
St Albans comes in third due to high rental prices. The average 1-bedroom flat costs £1,425 a month, requiring a salary of £42,492, which is £5,000 more than the current average salary in the area.
The research also found that 9 of the 10 unaffordable cities for renters are in the south of England. University cities Oxford and Cambridge rank in the top 5, with rents of £1,390 and £1,500 per month, respectively. To afford these rents, you’d need salaries of £43,798 in Oxford and £45,581 in Cambridge, both significantly higher than the average salaries in these cities.
Bath and Bristol in the South West, and Chelmsford and Southend in Essex, are also unaffordable for single renters on the average salary. Salford, in Greater Manchester, is the only city in the north to make the list, with the average rent for a 1-bedroom flat now at £1,100.
Kate Steere, housing expert at finder.com, comments: “There seems to be no slowing down of the UK’s rental crisis, with average UK private rents rising by 9.2% in the 12 months to March 2024.
“The situation is even more stark in London, where rents increased by 11.2% in the same period, the highest annual change since 2006.
“Our research highlights how these rent hikes are pricing the average person out of a number of UK cities, including those with good career opportunities.
“While couples can get around this by sharing a 1-bed flat, the current rental market is making it unaffordable for Brits to rent alone in many cities. This is yet another example of the ‘single tax’ – where people are penalised for living alone and priced out of many areas of the UK.”
